Prishtina, 14.10.2022 – The Minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, addressed the Scientific Session “Clean Energy and Sustainable Development”, organized by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo.

The Scientific Session “Clean Energy and Sustainable Development” was organized by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. Academician Fejzullah Krasniqi, Chair of the organization council of the Symposium, Academician Mehmet Kraja, President of the ASAK and Academician Skender Gjinushi, President of ASA, gave opening remarks.

In her speech, Minister Rizvanolli said that at the country level, energy is a key sector in  guaranteeing national security, while at the continent level and even the global level, energy is key in guaranteeing the balance of powers, weakening of authoritarian tendencies, and this can be achieved by using renewable energy sources as a driving engine to move away from dependence on fossil resources.

Rizvanolli also stated that decarbonization of the energy sector, beyond protection of the planet and fight against global warming, is important for changing the reality we are facing every day, which will challenge us even further during the months of the coming winter.

She said that immediate actions must guarantee security of energy supply for citizens, and at the same time be in line with our strategic goals. Rizvanolli added that in order to deal with all these challenges, we are focused on a sustainable development of the clean energy sector in our country.

Minister Rzvanolli announced that we have started building accumulating capacities with the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) Compact Program. This project, the largest in the history of our country in the energy sector, is worth over 236 million dollars and the Program foresees the construction of battery capacities of 340 MWh that enable the integration of RES in the network.

She also highlighted that in addition to the MCC’s project, we have finalized two large solar projects, which are expected to be signed soon, and they are: Construction of a solar park with a capacity of 100 MW on KEK lands and Central Heating based on solar energy with a capacity of 70 MWh.

Minister Rizvanolli stated that in the Energy Strategy, which we expect to approve this year, we have foreseen the construction of 1400 MW new capacities from RES until 2031, and this constitutes a 36% share of RES in the final electricity consumption.